Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

The Ultimate Slayer
Review by Stu, Media by Kolbar

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Episode #34 - The Ultimate Slayer
Original Airdate: October 5th, 1996

Against his wishes, the Kingpin transforms Alistair Smythe into a half-cyborg, half-mutant creature to become the Ultimate Spider Slayer. Bitter about the betrayal, Smythe turns on his former boss and goes on a vendetta to destroy all the people responsible for his father's death.

Credits:
Story By: John Semper and Mark Hoffmeier
Written By: Sean Catherine Derek
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
Animation Services By: Toyko Movie Shinsha (TMS)
Guest Starring: Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Ed Albert as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Nick Jameson as Richard Fisk and Roscoe Lee Brown as The Kingpin

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Review:A fine episode, with some great plot twists for both the heroes and the villains. We get the revelation that Harry and MJ are engaged, and finally, seeing Smythe become the cyborg. This was one change everyone knew was coming, as Smythe's cyborg action figure was in the first wave (which actually probably confused the hell out of the little kids!)

The story actually had some build up to it, with Smythe's blunder causing Fisk's son, Richard to be locked up, as seen in the previous episode guest starring Daredevil. It also brought in Herbert Landon to replace Smythe. This was one thing I never liked, as Landon isn't that really an interesting character, and lacked the chemistry that Smythe had with Kingpin. I always thought the pairing of Smythe and Kingpin was genius (it probably helped that I love the way Roscoe Lee Brown pronounces Smythe).

Unfortunately, after this episode, Smythe would become rather redundant. His claims of finding a way to rejuvenite his father became laughable, as he simply became another supervillain working for someone higher up the foodchain (like Doc Ock). I'm in the camp that thinks this episode would have been a great send off for Smythe.

One of my main beefs with the episode is Madame Web. Her inclusion her was pointless, a and how she's worked into the episode seems a little forced, as the help she provides Spidey our hero could've figured out himself. A small but annoying slip up in an otherwise great episode.

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